Shadow Of Love
by SiriusHorcrux1018
Summary: [RePosted] Robert Chase wanted a family.  Reese Reynolds had a family.  But getting involved with Reese meant stepping up as a father that her kids needed and the husband that she wanted. [Chapter 10 up!] Chase becomes emotional as Anya learns the truth.
1. Baby, Don't You Break My Heart Slow

**A/N: **Okay guys! I know you have been waiting FOREVER for this fic to be updated, but as I kept looking it over, I kept changing my mind on details and I didn't exactly like the way it was going. So here is the reposted version! I hope this one is better and makes more sense :D Anyways, enjoy!

**Shadow Of Love:**

**Chapter One – Baby, Don't You Break My Heart Slow**

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_I'd rather you be mean than love and lie,  
__I'd rather hear the truth and have to say goodbye,  
__I'd rather take a blow,  
__At least than I would know,  
__But baby, don't you break my heart slow._

"Baby, Don't You Break My Heart Slow" by Vonda Sheppard

* * *

He shifted slightly, his arm curling around the smaller body and bringing it closer to him, his long fingers slowly dragging themselves up and down ever so slightly over her pale skin.

The man lay in bed, continuing to stroke her skin, quiet and simply staring up at the ceiling, his mind drifting and thinking about nothing in particular, but somehow always returning to one specific thought: Is leaving an option?

The woman shifted in bed and allowed a soft moan to leave her pink lips as she lifted her head off of the man's chest. Blinking slowly, the woman quietly turned her head to look at the man in her bed, and squinted her blue eyes in an attempt to half wake up.

"Chase? Something the matter?" Her voice was quiet and full of sleep.

Robert Chase swung his glance over to the woman and offered her a slight smile before leaning forewards and softly pressing his lips to her forehead in a kiss.

"Nothing that we can't deal with in the morning." He answered, his thick Australian accent cutting into the comfortable silence of the room. "Go back to sleep love. Get some more rest."

The woman shook her head and clutched the bed sheet to her chest more, covering her naked form, and sat up, watching him. Running her fingers through her mussed brown hair, blue eyes peered at the Aussie in the darkness.

"If it's nothing important, we can deal with it now." She debated quietly, still watching him. "What's going on?"

Chase sighed and pushed his body up into a sitting position, resting his back against the light brown headboard. Remaining quiet for a few long moments, the man finally turned to face the woman.

"Reese…" He started before becoming silent again, trying to figure out what he was going to say to create the least pain for her. But anything he said would be painful. Yet, the woman was still watching him, obviously waiting to hear him.

"This…thing we have," a hand wave between the two bodies was produced. "Isn't working out."

Robert Chase watched the smaller woman for her reaction, but the woman wasn't responding to his comment. Simply, there was no reaction present on her face; just an inviting look to continue.

Another heaved sigh. "I can't continue seeing you. I can't keep coming here."

Another few long moments before the ultimate question: "Why not?"

That was it; with those simple words, Robert Chase owed her an explanation and chose to go with a half-honest answer.

"I'm a doctor, you know that. That alone takes up a lot of my time." Chase answered, still watching her. "This between us…this situation that we're in, isn't helping me out here." He let that settle before, "And at the moment, I can't deal with both my job and you."

"So you're choosing your job over me?" Reese questioned, hurt evident in her voice, her blue eyes glassing over with unshed tears.

"You're important to me Reese…but my career means a lot to me too." Chase replied softly before leaning in and moving to kiss her, but at the same moment, Reese gathered up the bed sheets and created a make-shift dress with them before standing.

"Reese, where are you going?" Chase questioned as the woman began picking up her fallen clothing.

"Away from you, you asshole!" She snapped before turning around so Chase could catch the first tear rolling down her cheeks. "I can't believe you'd use me like that!"

"That's not what I meant to do!" Chase shot back, grabbing his black boxers off the floor and slipping them on before standing up. "I can't deal with both you and my job at the moment; I never meant to hurt you."

"Bullshit!" The upset woman cried before wiping her cheeks and taking a shaky breath. "Tell me the truth Chase, because I don't want you breaking my heart slowly. If you have something else to tell me, than say it! Is this only about your job?"

The sound of the clock ticking time away seemed to drag on forever, as an awkward silence grew between them. Finally, the Australian ran a hand through his blonde locks and peered at the woman with brown eyes.

"No…it's not." Another few ticks of the clock sent more time into the past, the ticking seeming to echo throughout the entire room.

"Well?" A screech from the woman demanded an answer.

Chase heaved one final sigh, and looked right into the woman's eyes.

"Reese…I can't see you anymore…because I don't love you."

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**A/N: **Dun dun dun…review please! 


	2. Collide

**A/N: **Newly re-vamped second chapter is here! YAY!

**Shadow Of Love:**

**Chapter Two: Collide**

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_Even the best fall down sometime,  
__Even the wrong words seem to rhyme,  
__Out of the doubt that fills my mind,  
__Somehow I find,  
You and I collide…_

"Collide" by Howie Day

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_**Five years later…**_

Robert Chase, doctor as Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, rubbed his eyes tiredly and groaning before signing off on another patient's chart. He was currently serving his clinic hours that he owed to the Hospital, and had been hoping to get out of the clinic and home by six at the very latest.

Pushing up the sleeve of his white lab coat, he looked at the gold watch with the brown leather strap and saw it was nearly six o'clock.

"So much for that," Chase mumbled as he allowed his brown eyes to sweep over the clinic. There was only about six or seven patients left, but that didn't mean that they'd be seen in the next few minutes.

Turning back to the charts that were stacked on top of the counter, Chase hummed to himself before feeling a tug on the bottom of his lab coat. Blinking, the man looked down to see a little boy, who couldn't be much more than a year and a half, two at the very most.

"Hey there," Chase greeted, before gently tugging his coat out of the boy's grip and then kneeling down to his level, pressing one knee into the white tiled floor, while resting his arm on the other propped knee. "Where's your mommy kiddo?"

The boy simply smiled, the tip of his tongue sticking out between four tiny white teeth. His brown hair flopped forewords on his head, his bangs just skimming the top of his eyebrows. The little boy was dressed in a brown turtleneck and brown running shoes with a pair of white overalls over-top. His large brown eyes gleamed as the boy suddenly started laughing and clapping his hands.

In spite of Chase having to finish work and find out where the kid's mother was, he found himself smiling. Kids were great, in his opinion. So innocent, so unaware of the things that older people saw everyday. He had always wanted some eventually; who didn't? But at the same time, he had never found that 'one person' who he had wanted to spend his life with yet. Besides, he was only 30; he was young and had loads of time to find someone.

"Dakota!"

The voice cut into the silence between the man and child, despite all the noise in the clinic and Robert Chase looked up to see a woman, dressed in a black knee-length denim skirt, a pair of black ankle boots and a light pink dress shirt. Her brown hair was pulled up into a ponytail, her bangs brushed and swept to the side of her face, half-hiding her left eye.

The little boy turned to look at the woman, smiled and reached up to her. The woman smiled and bent down, picking up the child and shifting his small body to accommodate herself by resting him on her hip.

At that moment, a little girl wandered over and allowed Chase the moment to observe the girl. She couldn't be much older than four or five. She was dressed in a white blouse, a purple jumper, and white stockings. On her tiny feet was a pair of black party shoes.

What Chase noticed was that her hair was a dark blonde, not brown like her brother's or mother's. That was assuming that this little girl was related to the adult and child. Her big blue eyes gleamed as she lifted a hand and waved with a big smile on her face.

"Hi mister doctor!" She greeted and Chase found himself waving and replying with his own "Hi."

The woman smiled at Chase and said, "Thank you for finding Dakota, Doctor Chase. He's at that age where he likes to run off."

The doctor nodded and smiled. "It was no problem. Just be glad he hadn't left the clinic. Who knows what might've happened then?"

The woman laughed and hugged her son to her once more, before lowering her left hand and allowing the girl to take it.

"Well, thank you once again. But I think it's time we get going." The woman replied and smiled again. "It was nice to see you again."

Chase nodded before holding his palm up to the little boy. "High five buddy!"

The little boy laughed and weakly smacked the doctor's hand. Robert Chase laughed and pretended to wave his hand around in pain. "Seems like you have a slugger on your hands." Turning to the little girl, he smiled and held out his hand to. "You don't hit that hard, do you sweetie?"

The little girl laughed and high-fived the man. "You're funny mister doctor!"

The woman smiled, shaking her head in amusement before tugging on her daughter's hand. "Come along Anya. We've got to meet daddy for dinner."

Anya nodded and smiled at Chase. "Yeah! Daddy is taking us out to a fancy place for dinner!"

"Really?" Chase asked, faking shock. "Wow! You have fun then!"

"I will!" Anya replied as she followed her mother out of the clinic. "Bye mister doctor!"

Chase snorted, smiled and waved after the woman and kids. In a mutter, he added, "It was nice to see you too, Reese."

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**A/N: **I would love to hear how this version is in your opinion. I actually think this is better, but I would love to hear your opinions! Please review!


	3. I'll Never Hold You Again

**A/N: **Okay, I know many of you probably watched Season 3. All that I know of what happened in Season 3 was that Chase and Cameron become friends with benefits and that Foreman left and Chase got fired. I didn't get a chance to watch most of season 3 ('Cause I was often at work and missed a lot of the episodes) so I'm not going to make a whole lot of reference to it, if any. Though, if anyone would love to give me a few important details about the season, I might be able to figure a way to use season 3 in this fic. Thanks and enjoy!

Oh! And if anyone is wondering why I have song lyrics at the beginning of each chapter, they are the titles of each of the chapters, and a hint about what the chapter is about. Cool, no?

**Shadow Of Love:**

**Chapter Three: I'll Never Hold You Again**

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_You're the words I've never spoken,  
__And the heart that's still broken,  
__You're the hurt that stays till the end,  
__I'll never hold you again…_

"I'll Never Hold You Again" by Nadia Bjorlin

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The strings of slow classical music drifted throughout the lobby of Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital as many people—doctors, nurses, important members of the board, and the Dean of Medicine herself—mingled about, talking with one another on every topic about politics, entertainment or what would be improved in the hospital with the newest donation. 

The lobby of the hospital had been decorated with tasteful strings of lights, streamers, dim lights, music, plants and more, to make the setting seem rather elegant for a Hospital benefit. In one area was a poker table; where it seemed some of the men had disappeared off to while the ladies stood around and talked, sipping on cosmopolitans, other 'lady' drinks, and listening to the lovely music being provided by a five-piece band.

Allison Cameron frowned a little as she stood on her tip toes for a slight second to see if she could catch sight of her co-workers. She had only just arrived to the benefit, decked out in a light pink strapless cocktail dress, her long brown hair curled. Her make-up was done in light browns and pinks. Around her neck was a silver chain and a silver bracelet was wrapped around her right wrist.

As nice as the benefits were (which she often went to for a "nice night out"), they still weren't very interesting without her co-workers and friends. Benefits were not something she would normally go to herself.

Finally spotting her co-workers, she smiled as she weaved herself through the crowd of people in the lobby.

"Hey guys," she greeted as she finally reached the two men, allowing her brown eyes to scan over them.

Doctor Robert Chase had gone all black for the event; black tux and dress shirt and silk black tie which only brought out the colour of his blonde locks and hazel eyes.

Doctor Eric Foreman had gone for the traditional look; a black tux with a white dress shirt and black bow-tie.

The two men greeted her with smiles and she took a champagne flute off the tray of a passing waiter.

"You just get here?" Foreman asked, scanning his dark brown eyes over the woman, who nodded and confirmed his thought.

"Figures," both men answered while Cameron's mouth dropped open at the statement, attempting not to laugh.

Before Cameron had a chance to verbally respond, Chase stepped in and cupped her shoulder teasingly. "Oh come on, you know we're just teasing you. You're a girl, and generally, women like to take hours getting ready."

"Doing their hair and make-up alone takes, what? Forty minutes?" Foreman grinned and speculated.

The female doctor put her hands on her hips. "I don't know what women you two have dated, but I never take that long on hair and make-up. Ten minutes for each, tops!"

"Speaking of women," Foreman added, sliding his eyes over to a woman standing about fifty feet away from them with another man. "Isn't that the chick you were telling me about? The one you ran into at the clinic and then again when we went out for drinks the other night?"

Robert Chase lowered the champagne flute (that he had taken from a passing waiter) from his mouth, the stem carefully cradled between his thumb and index finger and peered into the distance at the woman and nodded. "That's her."

Cameron, feeling extremely lost about the whole situation, followed their gaze to stare at the woman and man.

"Who's who? What's going on?"

Chase shook his head, closing his eyes for a minute. "There's this woman I've run into a couple times in the past few weeks. We had this thing about five years ago, until I dumped her. I just never thought I'd see her here tonight."

Cameron nodded slowly and allowed her eyes to drift over the two.

The man was tall, probably about six feet, give or take an inch, and dressed rather handsomely in a black tuxedo with a white dress shirt and black tie (as was the norm for the evening). His dark blonde hair, which looked almost brunette in the dim lighting, was swept back, his eyes a dark green in colour. His right arm was wrapped around the small waist of his equally small wife.

The woman had dressed in a royal blue strapless dress with a silver ribbon tied beneath the bust, creating the ever-popular empire waist line. The dress ended at her knees with a pair of blue heels on her feet. Her brown hair was simply pulled up into a half-ponytail and secured with a blue barrette, and she wore a silver chain with a heart on it around her neck.

Both parties looked rather gorgeous for the evening—not that everyone wasn't well-dressed. However, the two had seemed to stand out from the crowd simply by looks. Verbally though, the woman seemed quite bored with the conversation at hand (whatever it may be), her blue eyes wandering around the groups and stopping on the three doctors, watching them as they watched her for just a moment before the woman snapped back to attention to respond to whatever the man who hugged her close was asking her.

Cameron turned her attention back to her two peers. "And you were with that woman? For how long?"

"Not long enough." Chase muttered, taking a sip of his champagne. After a few minutes, the man shook his head. "We dated for a couple of years and I ended things 'cause it just wasn't working out."

"Whoa," Foreman cut in and held up his hand to Chase. "You don't end things after 'a couple of years' because things don't work out. There's usually some other reason. When things don't work out, the relationship normally ends after a few months. Unless…"

"Unless?" Chase countered, quirking a brow. "Unless what?"

Cameron shook her head, slightly amused. "Unless you two were just friends with benefits."

A frown crossed Chase's lips. "I'm not that type of guy. I don't use women, and I sure as hell don't use them for sex."

The two doctors exchanged a look and watched Chase study the woman, who had smiled at the man she was with and excuse herself before walking away. It was at that moment that Chase had slipped his mouth around the rim of the flute, tilted his head back and downed the alcohol. Handing the flute to Cameron, who blinked, Chase straightened out his tuxedo jacket and excused himself, following after the woman.

Foreman and Cameron exchanged another look and then back to the direction to where Chase had taken off, leaving the two to ponder just why the blonde had left in such a hurry.

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"No, baby girl, I don't know when we're going to be home." Reese replied, holding the black Motorola Razor to her ear and speaking into the mouth piece. "You should be in bed anyways…okay, I'll tell him. Promise." 

Feeling like she wasn't alone, Reese looked up and spotted the one person she knew would be at the event tonight simply walking down the hallway, his hands casually shoved into the pockets of his pants.

The woman had left the benefit to find a quiet hallway so she could call and check up on the children, whom she had left with a babysitter earlier that evening. Turning her attention back to her phone call, acting as if she was just merely interested in who was coming down the hallway at that moment, she smiled as she heard her daughter talking to her on the phone, asking her when they'd be home, making her promising to tell 'daddy' that she loved him.

"Okay baby girl. It's time to get back to bed. I'll come see you when we get home…I love you too." Reese replied into the phone before saying goodbye and hanging up. Flipping her phone closed, she opened the silver clutch purse and buried the phone inside, among the mess of plastic cards, money, her tube of lipstick and other 'necessary' items.

"You know, you aren't really supposed to use cell phones in the hospital."

Reese looked up at the blonde doctor and nodded. "Sorry about that Doctor Chase. Next time, I'll go look for a pay phone."

Robert Chase smiled at her and shook his head. "Don't worry, I won't tell."

Reese nodded and then tapped her fingers on her clutch awkwardly, shifting her weight for a moment before saying, "Well, I suppose I should be getting back to Corbin."

Chase took a step to the right, cutting her off from moving any further. "Hold on for a second Reese. You're always running off whenever we meet up."

That was true; ever since the run-in at the clinic two weeks earlier, there had been the occasional time that they had met up; at the grocery store, at the bar and even seeing each other on the streets. And every time they had met up, Reese had made an excuse about how she had to get going: she had kids to pick up from school, from the babysitter's, she had a bunch of chores at home that needed to be done. Whatever the reason, the woman took off when she could.

"Chase…move." Reese replied. "My husband is waiting for me."

The Australian blinked in surprise. "Your husband?"

"Yeah. You know, my spouse? The title a man gives himself when he becomes legally bound to a woman?"

Chase snorted and shook his head. "I know what a husband is. It's just kind of surprising. I never thought you'd rush off to the alter and be married by the time you were thirty."

The brunette frowned. "Why is that so surprising? Do you really think that after you dumped me and used me for sex all that time we were together, I would have become a hermit or something? Never give my heart to another man?"

Chase frowned. "I told you before; I never meant to hurt you and I sure as hell didn't use you for sex."

"Well, when you tell me that you don't love me after we've had some adventures beneath the sheets, that's one of the automatic thoughts that pop up." Reese hissed before brushing past the man, knocking shoulders with him.

The man turned around to watch the woman stalk off and called out, "So why'd you come back?"

Reese stopped dead in her tracks, leaving her back turned to the doctor for just a second before turning around to face him, a calm look on her face and she shrugged. "I don't know. I was hoping to see you and talk to you; see if you were still as much of a jerk as you were five years ago."

"What do you see when you look at me?"

The woman licked her lips. "I see a successful doctor. When you said you didn't have time for a relationship and your career was too important at the time, I can see how well you took care of it. You're working beneath a famous doctor and you haven't been fired yet or quit. So that either means you either sucked up to your boss, sucked up to dear old daddy and get him to pull some strings for you...or you know when not to step out of line."

Reese started to walk to him, the sound of her heels echoing throughout the empty hallway. "So tell me, Doctor Chase, what do you have when you go home at night?"

Chase frowned, his brows lowering as he studied the woman. "I have a career. I'm doing something I love. What do you have?"

The challenge was there. It was time for the truth, Reese realized as she watched with an equal expression.

"I have my kids. I have a husband. I have a home." Reese replied evenly. "I don't have much, but I have what I need. And that's all I want."

Robert Chase swallowed and nodded slightly, silently noting that she had said she had a husband, but she had never said that he loved her. But that, of course, was left to be assumed. Otherwise, why would she marry someone who didn't love her?

Realization dawned on the man; Reese had what she needed. Kids, a husband—a family. The one thing she had wanted forever and she possibly would've had with _him _had he actually been able to be how he wanted to be for her; had he actually been able to love her the way she deserved it.

A few long minutes ticked by, a thick silence drifted between them before Reese cut it with her next question: "Was giving me up worth it? Going home at night to nothing, but knowing that you still had a job in the morning where people relied on you to make them better?"

The question caught Chase off guard and his mouth dropped open a little in surprise at the bluntness of the question and for a moment, he couldn't answer. Reese swept her glance off of the doctor and instead glanced at the time on her cell phone. "I would just _love _to continue this conversation Chase, but like I said, Corbin is waiting for me."

And with that, Reese made her way out of the hallway and back to the benefit, leaving Chase standing all alone.

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**A/N: **Sweet, we're getting somewhere with this fic! Please review!


	4. Every Time

**A/N: **Fluffy angst alert! Fluff angst alert! I tried including some fluffy angst (whatever you think that is) into this chapter between Chase and other people….I don't know if it worked! You tell me when you review! Hahaha, I'm having fun writing this so far. Enjoy!

**Shadow Of Love:**

**Chapter Four: Every time**

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_Every time I see you in my dreams,  
__I see your face,  
You're haunting me,  
I guess I need you baby._

"Every time" by Britney Spears

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"What are you doing here?"

The question was simple; it didn't need a long, detailed answer. But it was a Saturday afternoon, where she had suspected he'd be at work or off spending the afternoon with a nurse or two from the hospital.

Instead, he was here, standing on her front door stoop.

Robert Chase squinted his brown eyes slightly in an attempt to keep the sun from blinding him as he stood on the concrete porch of one Reese Reynolds's house. The man had taken the day off work, instead of offering to cover a shift in the ER like he had been asked. When asked to cover said shift, he had simply said he couldn't because he had important matters to take care of.

Important matters included apologizing.

"I came to apologize," he replied honestly, shoving his hands into the pockets of his black jeans, having changed from his dress pants and white dress shirt to jeans and a comfortable black and blue tee upon leaving the hospital.

"About?"

"About the benefit. Last week…I was being a total jerk and I'm sorry." Chase replied, looking at the woman, who looked rather comfortable dressed in a khaki skirt, black flip flops and a black sleeveless tee shirt.

Reese nodded, licking her dry lips and then shook her head. "You don't have to apologize. I guess I was just moody; seeing you and talking about our personal lives…was too much of a shock, I guess. And it wasn't the best time to discuss it either."

The woman uncrossed her arms, resting her hands on her hips and then leaning her body against the open door frame of the house. "But seriously, why are you here? Don't you have work?"

"I was just finishing up some paperwork," A shake of the head. "Besides, I wanted to come by and see if I could take you and the kids out for some ice cream or something to make up for my attitude to you the other night."

"Uhh…" Reese scrunched her face up in thought and shifted her weight, obviously thinking about the offer. It was just ice cream; so it wasn't that big of a deal. Corbin had left the previous day to go to Boston for a conference, so he wasn't home…and besides, it was only one day. It wasn't like the man was asking her to move in with him.

"Come on Reese," A grin spread across Chase's lips. "My treat. It'll be fun."

That had done it; just that easy-going grin of his had made her decide. "Okay. You've got yourself a deal." She replied, allowing a smile to cross her face.

* * *

"Chase!" Anya laughed as she pumped her legs to go higher on the swing. "Higher! Higher!"

Chase laughed and continued to push the little girl; every time she fell back to him, his large hands would rest on her small back and she would fly forwards again, her blonde hair flying back, blue eyes gleaming with delight as she held tightly onto the chains that kept the swing attached to the metal frame.

"I push you any higher, you really will go flying!"

"Higher, higher!" Another insistent call came from the small child, who had been told that instead of calling him "mister doctor", she could call him "Chase". Anya had happily taken the new nickname in stride and used it every time she talked to him.

Reese looked up from where she knelt on the sand a few feet away, playing with Dakota in the sand, and allowed herself a smile. Her daughter had seemed so deliriously happy right now; she rarely ever saw Anya _this _happy when Corbin actually spent time with her.

With that thought, she allowed her mind to travel back a few hours after the Australian had offered to take them to get ice cream. They had walked down the street to the local Dairy Queen, Anya and Dakota naturally taking off ahead of them (Dakota, naturally, only a foot or two ahead—if that) with Reese's calls to them about waiting up for her and Chase.

Then, Anya had decided it'd be a great idea to go to the park ("I want to swing mommy!") and Chase had backed the girl up, telling Reese it would be great to work off all the calories they had put on from the ice cream. Reese responded by jokingly shoving Chase away from her and saying, "Spoken like a good doctor."

Since they had gotten here forty minutes earlier, Anya had seemed to cling to the blonde male like a life line; begging him to slide down the slide with her, play in the sand with her and push her on the swing. Naturally, Chase had agreed and had spent a good amount of time with her while Reese played with Dakota in the sand for a bit.

Watching the adult and child laugh and play about on the swings made her feel like heart was breaking; if only Corbin could act like Chase did with the kids. Granted, the children had only been around Chase for two hours, if that. But they seemed to be having the time of their life with him, and that tore her up inside.

Robert Chase could not be a part of their lives. He just couldn't become close to them. If he did, it would kill her inside. Have them grow close to the man only to turn around and be tossed aside when the good doctor grew tired of them.

But as much as that might kill her—and her children—it was great to see them together, laughing and forgetting everything that mattered. Living in the moment.

Feeling her eyes water up, Reese blinked slowly, allowing a tear to roll down her cheek as she watched Chase laugh at something Anya had said before grabbing the swing, making it stop. She watched Chase grab the little girl off the swing from the front, using his right hand to rest it on her back while the left arm locked around her knees and threw her over his shoulder to which he received a loud shriek of "Chase!" and Reese found herself attempting to hold back a giggle.

They looked just like father and daughter…

The man carried the girl (who was still leaning over his shoulder) over to Reese, who quickly wiped her tears away to hide the fact that she had been (sort of) crying, and Chase smiled at her.

"Ready to go soon?" He motioned to the growing-dark sky. "It looks like it's going to rain soon."

Reese nodded and helped Dakota stand on his own while Chase rested the girl back down on her feet. As Chase lowered a hand to help the woman up, Reese grabbed it, heaving herself to her feet.

It was then that the Aussie had frowned slightly in thought. Leaning in, he quietly asked her, "Are you okay?"

Reese licked her lips again—a nervous habit of hers—and nodded. "Couldn't be better."

Another nod from Chase, who didn't look as if he bought it but let it drop for now.

"Mommy, are we going home?" Anya asked, looking rather nervously up at the dark sky.

Reese remembered she had never liked thunder and lightening. The loud booms and flashes of light had always scared her, despite the fact that she had loved rain, because—according to her daughter—it looked like angels were crying, but their tears were "just so pretty".

"Yeah, baby girl." Reese nodded. "We are. It's getting late and I've got to start making dinner."

"Can Chase stay for dinner?" Anya asked, eyes gleaming with the thought of her new friend staying to play with her and Dakota some more.

Reese and Chase exchanged a look and then Reese nodded; Chase staying for dinner wouldn't hurt all that much…but after dinner, she had to cut him out from the kids' lives. And she had to cut him out of hers.

It was only going to kill her and the kids when he decided he was tired of them and didn't love them anymore.

* * *

Chase blinked as he mixed up the Caesar salad that Reese had asked him to make to go along with the pasta for dinner as he heard the question.

"Sorry, can you repeat that again?"

Anya sighed heavily and grinned. "I said," she drawled. "Mommy likes you."

Another blink and he paused in his task. "What do you mean? Like, as a friend?"

Thank god Reese was not in the kitchen right now; she had left to go throw some laundry on and change Dakota into his pajamas after deciding it wasn't worth it to put dry clothes on him when she had found out he had peed himself.

His question was replied to with a shrug. "I don't know."

Chase allowed himself a smile. For a child who was only four or five, she knew how to spill details with elaborating. With that, he returned to finishing up the salad.

He had hoped she didn't care about him as anything more than a friend. Not that he was having an easy time dealing with having her as a friend either.

When he had come to take her and the kids out for the day, he never dreamt he would've spent the entire day with them, learning what their personalities were like, how innocent her kids were, how easily amused they were.

But at the same time, the feelings he had felt for her five years ago were still there; they were still alive, and it scared him. It scared the hell out of him because he had furiously claimed he didn't love her then; he had told himself he wasn't good for her, that he could never make her happy then. That's why he had walked away from her, leaving her to pick up the pieces of her broken heart.

It had been tough to walk away, but probably one of the best decisions he had ever made. He had left her to find love in someone new, someone who could make her smile and love her the way he should've been able to. He had simply chosen his career over her because it was easier to take care of; he took care of himself then.

It was just easier.

But at the same time, he had turned into his father that night; he had walked away from the woman he had been in a relationship with. True, he and Reese had never married, had never had any children together…but he had still walked away because it was easier to run than stay and fight.

"The salad done?" Reese asked as she entered the kitchen with Dakota, dressed in a pair of blue and yellow pajamas, saddling her hip. Her entrance had cut into his thoughts and the blonde had snapped to attention.

"Uh, yeah, it is." An easy going grin always helped to hide his thought as he proudly held it out to the mother of two. "It's perfect, see?"

Reese smiled and shook her head amused. "Yeah, yeah. Shame. We can't eat it now."

"Why not?"

"Because it's perfect, Chase. There'll never be another salad like it again. Why get rid of something perfect?"

Chase laughed as he followed Reese and the kids to the table and they all sat down to eat dinner.

* * *

"…And they lived happily ever after." Reese spoke quietly, finishing the Cinderella story that Anya had wanted to hear so badly that night as her bedtime story. Looking to her right, she saw her daughter asleep, curled up on her side with her blonde hair fanning out across the purple pillow. Reese climbed off the bed and pulled the light purple blankets up to her daughter's shoulders before sitting back on the bed again.

She allowed her blue eyes to scan over her daughter and softly reached out to finger a strand of blonde hair.

"I'm sorry, baby girl." Reese whispered to her daughter as if she were awake. "I'm sorry that I'm going to end up hurting you, but I have to do what's best for you…and if that means making sure that you and Chase don't play together anymore…"

She inhaled a shaky breath before looking over her shoulder to the closed bedroom door. Their guest had left an hour ago to go home, since he was on call tomorrow and wanted to go to sleep. Before he had left, Anya had intercepted and asked the man to come over and play with her and Dakota sometime again real soon, to which Chase had smiled and high-fived her.

"I'll see what I can do sweetie," he had replied before leaving while Reese watched his retreating back for the second time in her life…

Leaning down and focusing on the present, Reese softly kissed her daughter's forehead before standing and leaving the room, silently closing the door half-way before heading into her bedroom to get ready for bed.

Stopping at her jewelry box, Reese lifted the lid of the dark cherry wood box and dug around. Pulling out two silver rings, one with a large square cut diamond on it while the other had little diamonds embedded into the band, she slipped both onto her ring finger.

"I'm married, damnit." The woman hissed to herself as she stared at her reflection in her vanity mirror. "I can't keep hoping for him to keep coming back to me and the kids…"

Dropping her head back, Reese closed her eyes and breathed deeply. No…she couldn't keep hoping that Robert Chase might actually decide he loved her and come back to be the husband she wanted and the father that Anya and Dakota needed.

Her wedding ring had a new job; now, it wasn't just to show that she was married. It was also to remind her of what she wanted but couldn't have anymore.

**

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**A/N: **I wasn't too totally sure about how well this chapter turned out. I'd love you guys to review and let me know!


	5. What Hurts The Most

**A/N: **I'm in such a writing mood right now! Wow xD I don't think I've ever been this eager to write another chapter so soon! I just posted one yesterday, but alas, here is another with some EVEN more foreshadowing for y'all. Enjoy!

Oh! And if anyone has any great songs that they think would be great to base a chapter around (something that sounds like a statement or a story), please leave the song title and artist in the review box!

**Shadow Of Love:**

**Chapter 5: What Hurts The Most**

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* * *

_

_What hurts the most was being so close,  
And having so much to say and watching you walk away,  
And never knowing what could've been,  
And not seeing that loving you is what I was trying to do._

"What Hurts The Most" by Rascal Flatts

* * *

The next few days had passed quickly and rather eventfully for the mother, Chase and the children. The four were spending a lot of time together, going to the park to kick the ball around, the movies and even just helping Reese around the house by washing the window or car. Only problem with that was it usually turned out to be a big water fight between the adults.

And of course, Reese kept telling herself she would cut the man from their lives "the next day". It was something she had to do; they were becoming dangerously close to each other. Corbin would be coming home tomorrow, she realized as she looked at the calendar in the kitchen. Chase had to be gone by then. He had to.

Shaking her head, the woman moved over to the fridge and yanked open the door to start putting the groceries that she had just bought, away. Humming quietly to herself, her blue eyes gazed to the silver-diamond clad bands on her ring finger and bit her lip gently.

Things hadn't been going all that great between her and Corbin lately. In fact, for the past few months, they had barely spent any time together, if any. He was so busy with work that he just "didn't have time"—as he had said—to do any of the chores around the house, or to spend time with her, Anya and Dakota. It was often her playing both mother and father to the kids.

Fights between the two were growing to become infamous; they would start over something small, like taking the trash out, and escalade to some other important matter. Their voices had never been raised much and nothing had been thrown at the other, but they were still fights and still carried their own hurt.

The man she had married, the man who she had stood at the alter with in the house of God was growing apart from her (not that she hadn't grown distant from him either), and it was simply as if they were just roommates and not parents or spouses.

When they did spend time together, they worked well together. They kissed and hugged, cuddled for a bit and then went off to do what they needed to get done. It was a good schedule, but it wasn't good enough.

And it hurt, because she needed her husband to stand by her side as she tried to keep her sanity, especially since Robert Chase was back in her life.

Robert Chase.

What a guy, she thought as she tossed vegetables and fruit into their respected drawers in the fridge. He was still as much of a flirt since day one, although there was the suspected feeling—to Reese, anyways—that it was all unintentional. That was just part of his personality; it wasn't like he was trying to get her back. He had clearly told her that he didn't love her then, so why would he now?

The woman did not want to jump his bones; oh no. That would be wrong because it wasn't right. She was married, she didn't want to—couldn't—sleep with someone who wasn't her husband.

Still, he had been running through her mind for hour upon hour for the past few days and she needed to make it stop. Thinking about Robert Chase only caused her problems, and right now, she didn't need a distraction.

What she needed was a way out of this mess, before things got sticky and she pulled him into the middle of it.

"Hey, anyone home?"

Snapping out of her thoughts with a sudden jump, Reese looked up and in the direction of the front door. With a blink, she stood and closed the fridge door.

Moving to the front hall, she allowed herself another blink and then a smile at the sight of her husband. Crossing the floor to him, the woman wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pressing her body up against his.

"You're home early."

"Yeah, I wanted to surprise you." Corbin replied, leaning down to kiss her, pressing his lips against her and hugging her close for a minute.

Reese eagerly kissed her husband back, pushing up against him, hugging him close. She needed to do this; if she could kiss him, get Corbin into the playful mood and give him total control to do whatever he wanted, maybe she'd be distracted long enough not to think about a certain blonde Australian.

"Someone's a little eager," Corbin breathed out between kisses as he stumbled down the hallway towards the living room while keeping his wife close.

"I've missed you," she hissed before the phone started ringing. As Corbin let go of her to go answer the phone, Reese shook her head and grabbed his hands, lacing her fingers with his. "Let it go; it's probably just some telemarketer."

"It could be work," Corbin pointed out, glancing at the white cordless phone standing in its stand, the red light flickering as it rang.

Reese frowned, her lower lip sticking out a bit in a pout. "You just got home. They can wait."

The ringing stopped and Corbin shook his head, letting go of her to run his hands through his dark blonde hair. "Ugh, I'm going to get a shower and get changed." Kissing Reese's cheek, he left the room, his footsteps fading as he headed up the stairs and leaving Reese to frown.

Shoving her right hand into her brown locks, the woman shook her own hair out, thanking herself she had been smart about dropping Anya off at her friend's house for a play date and Dakota off at the baby-sitter's for a while. She and Corbin needed to have a serious talk. About everything.

* * *

"So, what are you doing exactly?"

"What do you mean?"

"Reese is married. You understand that, right?"

Allison Cameron leaned forwards, resting her arms on the glass table-top in the Diagnostics Conference room where she, Chase, and Foreman often met to discuss cases with her boss, Gregory House. She watched the blonde with brown eyes, brows quirked.

Chase nodded and tapped his ball-point pen against the table top for a minute before returning to his crossword puzzle. There hadn't been a case lately, so he had used up his time working on a crossword puzzle in the local newspaper.

"Yeah, I know that. That ring on her left hand is hardly invisible."

Cameron nodded and then blotted her lips. "So why are you doing it?"

Chase snorted and looked up, dropping the paper onto the table top with a soft 'slap'. "What do you mean? I'm not doing _anything_."

"Yeah, you are." Cameron pointed out. "You spent nearly the entire past week with her. All of your time off was spent with her, wasn't it?"

Chase found himself shaking his head in disbelief that his co-worker was making such a big deal out of something so innocent. "And her kids." A pause. "I wasn't doing anything intentional. I was just hanging out with her and the kids because her husband never does."

Cameron squinted at Chase for a moment. "So what? You're just going to step in and play daddy to them because he won't?"

"Look," Chase shot back, standing up from his chair and looking down at the woman. "I don't get why you're making a big deal about this. I was doing something nice and I bloody thought that I'd get _some _credit! It's not like I was trying to race the woman off to bed!"

Cameron thanked her stars silently that Forman or House weren't there, because they'd only get involved in the situation and make it worse. "I'm not making a big deal out of anything. I just want to know why you're doing what you're doing. She has a husband and family to deal with. Why are you getting so defensive anyways?"

There was a heavy silence growing between the two doctors that hadn't been there previously and Chase moved to rest his hands on his hips, fingers hooking themselves through the belt loops of his khaki chinos.

When Chase didn't answer, his female co-worker watched him. "Is it because you really do love her, when you said you didn't? At least that gives you an excuse to hang around them."

The Australian allowed a frown to cross his face and he shook his head. "I told you before; I'm not in love with her. She's a friend and nothing more. I was trying to be nice and yet again, I come off looking like I have another agenda." Shaking his head and holding up a hand to cut Cameron off, he added: "Thanks for knowing that you have faith in my actions."

"Chase, wait—" Cameron started, only to cut off her sentence when she watched the Intensivist stride from the office and disappearing off, down the hall.

* * *

A few minutes later, Chase stood on the roof of the hospital, allowing the slight windy breeze to blow into his face, cooling his warm forehead.

He didn't know why he had lost it on Cameron like that; she had asked a simple question and he had answered defensively. But to be fair, the man reasoned to himself, she shouldn't have gotten involved in matters that didn't concern her; the situation with Reese had nothing to do with her.

But there was an inkling suspicion that she was right; Chase felt like he was falling for the woman again. He had been honest when he had said he was trying to be around and do something nice for Reese—considering it was apparent from the continuous absence of her husband—that he rarely did anything nice for his wife. But, he was also falling for the mother again.

Each day he spent with the family, the closer he got and the harder he fell. And it was impossible to stop seeing them. The smiles that Anya and Dakota gave whenever they saw him were addictive; their laughter, the way their eyes lit up. The Australian wanted to see it as much as he could.

But it meant one thing: should Reese and Corbin ever divorce--or one spouse die in an extreme case--and Chase ran to her side to comfort her, he'd have to take Reese and the children. Run to _their _side, be there for _them. _Not her, not the children. _Both. _It was an all-or-nothing deal with that family. Be there for Reese, be there for the children.

A couple of days previous, Reese had asked him if he ever thought about getting married or having children. It had started out as an innocent enough question which quickly deepened, requiring honest answers. He had simply responded that yeah, he would like a family one day. He wanted to be a father, a husband and that she had been right when she had said that at night, when all was said and done, the place he considered home was empty. He had told her she was lucky; she had something to go home to at night, she had someone come home to her at night.

Since that conversation, Robert Chase had been thinking about how honest he had been. It'd be one thing to go home to somebody and love them, and it'd be quite another to go home to _her._

"_Reese is married. You understand that, right?" _Cameron's words echoed in the man's head and he had to rub his eyes tiredly, dropping his head back.

"Yeah…I understand that perfectly."

As much as the man had been hoping that they could work this out—figure out where they stood with each other—Robert Chase was not a man to touch another man's lady. He would not commit adultery; he would simply walk away from her like he had done before.

Robert Chase had hurt the woman once before; he wouldn't do it again.

* * *

**A/N: **The end of chapter 5! Yay! Please review! And remember, if you know of any songs that I could use to work a chapter around, please let me know!


	6. Safe Place To Hide

**A/N: **Chapter 6 up! Whoohoo! There is a fluffy-angst alert in here plus some shocking twists! It's all coming up real soon! Please review!

**Shadow of Love:**

**Chapter 6: Safe Place To Hide**

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_When you've got nowhere to turn and you're all alone,  
When your walls are a-breaking and there's no escaping,  
I, I'll fly through the night to get back to your side,  
I'll be your safe place to hide._

"Safe Place To Hide" by Melissa O'Neal

* * *

"_Have lover boy do it!" Corbin Reynolds snapped from his position on the couch, his lap top resting on the coffee table as his fingers danced over the keyboard, punching letter after letter into the computer._

"_What the hell?" Reese replied, scrunching her face up in thought. "Why can't you do it?"_

"_Because I'm fucking busy with a report for work." Corbin shot back, pausing in his typing and standing up to glare at his wife who was standing in front of him, arms crossed over her chest. "Besides, you've been spending an awful lot of time with him lately anyways. I'm sure the good doctor wouldn't mind taking Anya to her dance class or you out for the day. As long as there's something in it for him."_

_Reese's mouth dropped open in response. "What makes you think I'm sleeping with him? I never slept with anyone!"_

"_Because I give you enough."_

_The woman growled, and moved to uncross her arms, forming fists with her hands. "Once a week, if that, is not enough. All I did was ask you to be home early so Anya could be taken to dance class tomorrow. How did this escalate into a conversation about Robert Chase?"_

"_Because we both know you still want him." Corbin's brown eyes lowered in anger and he shook his head. "Five years wasn't long enough to get him out of your system. Go bed the guy for all I care. I have work to do. I don't have time to deal with this."_

_That was it; Reese was pissed. Another fight had started and she knew it probably wasn't going to end anytime soon, not that she was going to let it until she was done._

"_You never have time anymore for me or the kids! It's always work, work, work with you, isn't it?"_

"_Kid!" Corbin shot back. "I have one kid."_

"_No, you have two!" Reese confirmed. "You are legally responsible for two."_

_The blonde man shook his head and closed the lid of his laptop and started cramming his papers into a manila file folder and Reese blinked._

"_Where are you going?" Reese questioned, watching her husband pack up his stuff, burying it deep into his briefcase. "We aren't done here."_

_As Corbin began to move to the front door, he turned around, one hand clutching his car keys, the other hand clutching the handle of his briefcase. _

"_Yeah, we are. We're done. I'm sick and tired of having these fights with you; go call Doctor Chase, have him come over, have him screw your brains out and do what you need to do to get him out of your system." His reply was calm, his voice and gaze unwavering as he stared at Reese. "I took responsibility for the mess he left you in; I was a man about it. But I have my own priorities too. It's time for things to change Reese. When you can decide what you want—and I mean what you really want—give me a call." His brows lowered as he stared at his wife, whose blue eyes were filling up with tears. "I'm through with the fights, with your tears, with everything."_

_And without allowing Reese to get a word in, her husband left the house through the front door, slamming the door closed behind him with a 'bang'._

* * *

Breathing in deeply, Reese wiped more tears from her cheeks and leant her back against the wooden cupboard doors in the kitchen. Drawing her knees up to her chest, Reese shifted her position on the cold kitchen tiled floor.

Corbin had walked out nearly two hours ago. Probably to crash at a hotel or a co-worker's place or something. Not that she cared; he was the one who walked out. But it still hurt because Corbin was done. He had clearly said that. He was done with the fights, with the tears, with the lies and secrets. Everything.

In truth, she was sick of it too. All Reese had wanted was the fairy-tale marriage: have kids, a husband who would come home to her at night, the dog and white-picket fence. In truth, Reese hadn't been happy lately. Lately, the time she had been happy when Chase had been around and as much as she had wanted to get rid of him, she had a debt to pay to him.

Besides, she _needed _him. It was all too clear now. Even if Robert Chase didn't care about her the way she wanted, she needed to talk to him, needed to see him, needed to hear his voice that held so much care for his loved ones…and right now, that's all she wanted.

Climbing to her feet, the woman snatched the white cordless phone off its stand and sat down on the white kitchen chairs, drawing one knee to her chest again as she dialed.

"Hello?" A thick Australian accent cut into the phone as Chase picked up. But the voice was full of sleep, as if he had been sleeping. Quickly glancing at her watch, she noticed it was nearly midnight.

"Fuck," she mumbled in a low voice, ignoring the repeated, "Hello?"

Chase must've gone to bed early; he probably had work in the morning. Finally, the emotional woman answered. "Chase…it's me, Reese." Her quiet voice cracked as fresh tears flooded her eyes as the memory of why she was calling the man in the first place played in her mind. "I'm sorry that I'm calling you so late…"

"Reese?" His accent cut in, the tone full of concern. "What's wrong?"

Licking her swollen lips, she wiped another tear from her cheek. "Corbin left me. Two hours ago, he just walked out. Said he was tired of everything between us…I'm sorry that I called you so late…but could you come over?"

* * *

On the other line, Robert Chase was sitting in bed, in baggy black track pants and a gray wife-beater. His fingers clutched the sides of his cell phone as his hazel eyes peered through the darkness and onto the wall opposite of him.

This was it. Decision time. The man could do one of two things: one, he could lie and say he couldn't make it over because he had been trying so hard to separate himself from her for the past week. Or two, he could take it like a man and stop fighting a losing battle and go over to comfort the heart-broken woman…which meant he had to be there for her for good.

Knowing what it felt like to have a parent leave, Chase didn't want Anya and Dakota to feel that, as young as they were. It might not be a permanent situation for them, but for him, it was an all-or-nothing deal. Going meant staying and it meant he would finally have to give up the fight.

After a long, few minutes, Chase nodded to himself.

"I'll be right over Reese."

* * *

Twenty long minutes later, Robert Chase stood in the rain, leaning against his silver Echo. It had started raining only a half hour ago, but it had started coming down hard. And now, he was standing in it.

Standing on the curb in front of his car, the doctor stared at the comfy little house that the Reynolds' family resided in, the house that her husband had left. Brushing his wet locks out of his face, and wiping his face dry only to have it become wet again, Chase heaved a sigh.

He was here. He was actually going to do this; after nearly two months of the two running around, fighting losing battles over their feelings, he was standing here, ready to become the man that his father wasn't.

Rowan Chase had left their family when he was 15. Rowan Chase had never returned to the family. Robert Chase had left Reese five years ago; Robert Chase was going back for what he felt the need to do.

No man should leave their family because they were tired of it, he decided as he strode up the concrete pathway to the house.

"I'm not going to become dad," Chase promised himself. "Unlike him, I'm going back."

Lifting a fist, Chase knocked on the door three times. After a moment, there was the sound of a lock being unlocked and a chain sliding along a frame and then the door opened to reveal a tear-streaked brunette, her eyes widening in surprise.

"Chase…you actually came."

The blonde nodded and allowed himself a small smile. "Hey."

**A/N: **A quick chapter but somewhat cute and a few twists for you! We all know that everyone wanted those two back together. Please review!


	7. Let Love Win

**A/N: **Guys! Thanks so much for all the lovely reviews!! I love reading each and every one of them and started laughing at some of the things you guys were saying! I'm sure what comes next won't be all that much of a surprise but I definitely think some of you will be like "I KNEW IT!!"

Oh, and because I can't type accents or whatever, just imagine hearing a four year old talking when you read Anya's part.

Anyways, please enjoy the next chapter! Such teary stuff! Fluff and angst, everything you could ever ask for, all rolled into one!

**Shadow Of Love:**

**Chapter Seven: Let Love Win**

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_Our love goes deeper than the lies that were buried,  
Our love is clearer than the shadows of doubt,  
And I don't want to lose this once-in-a-lifetime,  
Let love win, please darling, let love win._

"Let Love Win" by Jane French

* * *

There was a "click" from the kettle and the red light flickered off while the sound of boiling water stopped. Wooden doors opened and closed as one man searched for coffee mugs in the cupboards of the kitchen. Finally spotting a shelf full of mugs, Robert Chase selected two blue mugs and pulled them out of the cupboard, setting them on the counter of the kitchen. 

Taking the kettle, he tipped it to the side, pouring each mug full of water and then adding the tea bags to them, before carrying the mugs into the living room where Reese Reynolds sat down on the couch, hunched over, her arms draped over her knees.

"Here," Chase replied quietly, handing the steaming mug to his companion before taking a seat beside her. "So tell me exactly what happened."

The woman heaved a sigh and ran her fingers through her brown locks before taking a look at Chase. He had dried himself mostly and swiped an outfit of Corbin's to dress in while he waited for his own clothes to dry. His neck-length blonde hair was still wet and still hung slightly limp into his eyes, giving him an incredibly sexy look.

Shaking her head to get rid of any impure thoughts of crawling into bed with the man, Reese licked her dry lips. Her husband had just left her! There was no way it was appropriate to be thinking about hopping into bed with the guy who was—technically—the reason why said husband left.

"We got into a fight, he said he was tired of dealing with everything and took off." Reese mumbled, shrugging and running her index finger around the top of the mug.

Chase peered at her, rather suspiciously. There had to be more to it than that. "Was there any other reasons why he took off?"

Another shake of her head. "Things haven't been all that great lately. We've hardly been spending any time with each other…when he has been home, he's wanted 'time to himself' so that left me to entertain Anya and Dakota. We've been getting into fights over stupid things which always quickly elevated into other touchy subjects."

"Touchy subjects?"

It was Reese's turn to peer at her companion, and reality that Robert Chase probably had some idea of what was up was hitting her. What she wanted to say was killing her.

"Our kids…are a very touchy subject." Reese replied with a shaky breath, replacing her mug onto the coffee table, afraid that she might spill it if she didn't. Staring right into Chase's eyes, her eyebrows lowered and she bit her trembling lip. "I haven't been totally honest with you Chase…"

A frown crossed Chase's face as he pressed his lips together. "What haven't you been telling me?"

Another shaky breath came from Reese as she gulped. "Anya and Dakota…they're half-siblings…Anya's your daughter."

Robert Chase froze as he watched the brunette sitting beside him, his hazel eyes widening in shock and his pink lips separated as his mouth opened a slight bit.

And then, a very awkward silence drifted between the two as what Reese had just told him hit him hard.

"B-But…Anya…" Chase spluttered out, trying to figure out what to say. "Corbin has blonde hair too….s-so…how…?"

Reese drew a breath in and exhaled slowly. "Corbin and I met shortly after you left...I was already pregnant then. I found out two weeks after you left, and Corbin found out shortly after that." Reese blinked her tears back. "Chase…you have to understand…"

"Understand what?" Chase snapped back, standing up and backing away from the brunette. His hands curled into fists. "That I had a daughter that you've been hiding from me for almost five years was something I should be happy about?"

"No!" Reese cried, standing up to face him. "You _left _me. Told me you didn't love me. So when I found out two weeks after you left, I didn't tell you because I knew what you would do!"

"I would've stayed!" Chase yelled back, his entire body shaking in anger. "I would've been there for you!"

"And that's exactly why I didn't tell you!" She screamed back through sobs, her eyes and nose a rosy pink while her pink lips appeared to be swollen and a dark pink. "Because you would've stayed for the _baby! _I didn't want you to stay because I was pregnant! I wanted you to stay for _me. _I wanted you to stay because you _loved _me. Not because you felt you had a duty to!"

"Just when were you planning to tell me that she's my daughter?" Chase demanded, his hazel eyes burning with anger.

A long moment of silence happened before Reese—having quieted her sobs—wiped her face clean. "I wasn't." she mumbled inaudibly.

"What was that?"

Reese growled and snapped her glance up to Chase. "I wasn't planning to tell you! After you left, that was it; I was through with you! I never thought I'd ever see you again after that so I didn't think I would ever have to have this conversation with you!"

Chase growled once more and took two steps to Reese—who backed away from him automatically, her eyes full of tears, her hands clasping her chest—his entire body shaking from anger before he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

He was pissed; that was putting it mildly. This woman had hid a huge secret from him for nearly five years. How did she think he was going to react? Hiding it was one thing, and planning to never tell him was quite another. She had told him—four years too late, granted—but still, it killed to know that he had missed out on a chunk of her childhood because it was Reese's way of punishing him for walking away from her all those years ago. Four years of his daughter's life was gone already, and he had missed all of it.

His daughter.

Anya Reynolds was Robert Chase's daughter.

To Chase, it seemed both foreign and perfect. It was foreign because the man had never imagined being a father at age 30 and definitely not being a father without being married. It was perfect because Anya was an angel to him. Her smile and laugh was contagious and he had been addicted to it ever since he had taken her, her brother and mother for ice cream.

That day had been just too much fun; he had spent a chunk of time with her and there was nothing but happiness in her eyes and he had felt his own happiness—as if he were in a perfect world where he didn't have to worry about the next patient who could die on his watch or battle inner demons.

Looking up at Reese—who watched him with that panicked expression—his eyebrows lowered in a frown and his hands moved to rest on his hips.

"Chase…"

His last name. Ever since they had dated, Reese had always called him by his last name ("It just sounds so sexy."), but now, he didn't want to hear it. Not from her; not from the woman who lied to him since they had met up again.

"What?" Chase snapped as he moved to grab his jacket off the back of the couch. Still wet, the angry blonde pulled it on.

"Don't—"

Just then a little voice cut in, and both Reese and Chase turned at the call of "Mommy? What's Chase doing here?"

Standing in a knee-length white nightgown, with a picture of three puppies on it, was Anya—her blonde hair tangled and one small fist rubbing her tired eyes.

With all the screaming they had done at each other, Reese wasn't surprised her daughter was awake.

"Mommy was upset, so Chase came to cheer me up," Reese explained; it was the truth, technically.

"Oh." Anya yawned and tiredly rubbed her eyes some more, before Chase exchanged a look with Reese. Pulling his wet jacket off, he walked over to the little girl and smiled at her.

"Let's get you back to bed sweetie." His pet name for her, Reese realized. Anya was Chase's 'sweetie'. Father mode had kicked in for him and he hadn't even realized it.

She watched Chase pick the little girl up, slide her legs around his waist so she could straddle his hip and she slung her left arm around his shoulder. Turning to look over his shoulder, Anya smiled at her mother and waved. "Night mommy."

"Night pumpkin." Reese waved, blowing her daughter a kiss.

* * *

"Are you and Mommy mad at each other?" Anya asked cutely as she snuggled beneath the purple blankets and slid her eyes closed tiredly before re-opening them and taking a yawn. 

Chase took a seat on the side of her bed, moving to brush a lock of blonde hair out of her eyes. "Well…sort of. Me and your Mommy had a disagreement over some things. Sorry about waking you up."

Another big yawn from the little girl. "It's okay. Mommy and Daddy were yelling earlier." Peering at Chase in the dim light of her bedroom, thanks to the Moon nightlight, she smiled at the blonde doctor. "Daddy makes Mommy cry sometimes when they have fights." Putting a finger to her lips, she shushed. "It's a secret. But you don't make Mommy cry."

Finally sliding her eyes closed, Anya yawned once more, and just before she fell asleep, what she said next broke Robert Chase's heart.

"I'd really like it, Chase…if you were my Daddy instead."

* * *

It was more than a half hour later when Robert Chase retreated from the girl's bedroom. After she had fallen asleep, he had simply sat on her bedside, watching her sleep and wondering. 

Wondering what it would've been like to be by Reese's side as she gave birth, what it would've been like to hold her as a newborn, what it would've been like to rock her to sleep or feed her a variety of baby food.

He had missed out on all of that because it was punishment for walking away, because he had been more concerned about what good would come out of leaving.

Looking up at Reese, who was asleep on the couch, her head resting on the arm of the chair, Chase found it evident that she had waited up for him to come back so they could talk things out. Deciding that they had been through too much emotional trauma for one night, Chase gently slipped an arm around her shoulders and one beneath her legs before straightening and lifting her off the couch.

Turning and heading into her bedroom, the man pressed a knee into the mattress as he laid the sleeping woman down and softly covered her with blankets. Leaning down once more, pressing both hands into the mattress, Chase watched her with hazel eyes.

"Know this, Reese," he whispered to her, his Australian accent thick with emotion. "Know that I'm not going anywhere this time. I'm going to stay and fight for what I want."

He softly pressed his lips to her forehead in a gentle kiss, ignoring the slight movement from the woman before leaving the bedroom, closing the door behind him gently on the way out, preparing himself for a rough night on the couch and a difficult conversation in the morning.

* * *

**A/N: **Aww, soo many heartbreaking events in this chapter. Please review!! 


	8. Emotions

**A/N: **Guys, once again, thanks so much for all the reviews! And I love seeing that people are putting me on their author alerts! That's good to know that some people are anxious, or rather, interested in reading what comes next. Also, I am SO sorry that it's taken forever to get this chapter out. I've been busy with school (yeah, I'm in summer school! Go me!) and then I went on vacation for a week.

Anyways, enough rambling. Please enjoy!

**Shadow Of Love:**

**Chapter 8: Emotions**

_

* * *

_

_It's just emotions taking me over,  
Caught up in sorrow, lost in the song,  
But if you don't come back, come home to me darling,  
Don't you know there's nobody left in this world to hold me tight?_

"Emotions" by Destiny's Child

* * *

The week passed by slowly. Too slowly, for Robert Chase's liking.

The idea that he was a father was still too shocking for him to wrap his brain around, so when he started to seem out of it at work, the man figured that he had better smarten up and focus on what he was doing.

Anya being his daughter was another situation entirely and needed to be dealt with on his own time, where he wouldn't have to let his co-workers know. Not yet anyways. Cameron, alone, would have a field day with this knowledge. If she would, Chase was pretty sure his boss would too.

He had left Reese's house the morning after in order to get ready for work. Besides, he wasn't ready to talk to Reese about what they were going to do with this new found knowledge.

He didn't know what he wanted anymore; but there was one of three things he could do.

One, he could walk out of their lives—_for good_. Disappear and never appear; never return calls or emails. Don't spend any time with any of the Reynolds at all. The idea wasn't all that appealing, especially after what Anya had told him just before she had fallen asleep.

Two, he could sue Reese for full custody of Anya. However, the little girl needed her mother, and it was common knowledge that the mother was usually given full custody, unless of course, the mother was unfit to parent. Besides, Chase was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to handle taking care of a child on his own, not with him being at the hospital nearly all the time.

Three, and the final choice, he could tell Reese he really wanted to spend time with Anya, his daughter—his_ daughter_—and get to know her more. Which Reese shouldn't have a problem with. If she did, than he might have to resort to one of the other two options, and he doubted that either of them wanted to go that route.

* * *

"Spill it."

Allison Cameron was adamant about finding out what was going on with Chase. Folding her arms and resting them on the wooden table top inside The Blue Note, her brown eyes peered into Chase's hazel ones.

"Spill what?" The Aussie accent countered with fake innocence as Chase moved his glance between his female co-worker and fellow doctor, Eric Foreman, who had joined them for drinks, intent on finding out what was making Cameron so antsy.

"Y'know," she drawled, taking a sip of the Cosmopolitan she had ordered. "What's going on with you this past week? You've been so out of it that I think House is actually getting bored with you."

Chase allowed himself a chuckle. "I doubt that. _He _is the one who can't stay out of people's lives. Why don't I just go straight to him for questioning?"

Foreman snorted slightly. "Chase, she's got a point. House isn't picking on you lately and that's only because you've been out of it. Usually he picks on you when you open your mouth and you haven't been doing that lately."

The Aussie shook his head, blonde hair swaying slightly as he pinched the bridge of his nose lightly. A headache had attacked him earlier and he had popped some Advil in hopes of it going away, and it seemed to be working.

Until the current topic of conversation came up.

"It's nothing. Nothing's going on with us."

The two other doctors exchanged a look of disbelief, and resisted the urge to say "Bullshit" before looking back at the blonde.

Licking his dry lips, Chase shook his head once more and rubbed his face, drawing out a long sigh. "Fine, fine. You baited me. It'll probably come out sooner or later."

Letting that settle, Chase prepared himself to say: "I have a daughter."

Total silence. That was what the man could say about the next few minutes. Pure, thick silence that he could slice it with a scalpel if he had one handy. Doctors Cameron and Foreman stared at Chase with wide eyes, mouths open as if they were waiting to catch flies.

Robert Chase shifted uncomfortably upon his wooden bar stool under their staring and it wasn't until he asked what the problem was did they answer him.

"You…have…" Foreman spluttered, before shaking his head and giving up on the sentence.

"A daughter," Chase finished with a nod and hunched over onto the table, beginning to play with the two beer bottle caps that littered the table from his and Foreman's beers. "Yeah. A four year old daughter. Who I didn't know about until last week."

"B-but…" Cameron started, lowering her brows as if she were studying an X-Ray. "Reese? Her daughter with her husband—"

"Isn't his. Anya is _my _daughter. Dakota, the son, is Reese and Corbin's."

Allison Cameron brushed her bangs out of her brown eyes and drummed her fingers on the wooden table, shifting awkwardly in her seat, not sure what to say.

It was different with a co-worker; she had heard nearly every family situation in her career: so-and-so was the adopted child of so-and-so, they were full blooded family members. Whatever the detail was, she had heard it. And could probably have managed to say _something _comforting to the family who had revealed the fact.

But this was _Robert Chase._

Young, blonde Australian doctor. Resident player. The man who could get (probably) any woman he wanted.

It was just too hard imagining him as the father of a four year old little girl who had never been in his life until seven days previous. No, scratch that, Cameron decided. It was just too hard to imagine Robert Chase—of _all _people—settled down with a wife and family.

Which is why it didn't surprise her that he was still single. But it was a hell of a shock to hear that he had offspring.

Foreman clapped Chase on the back with a slight grin. "Well, uh, congratulations man."

Chase responded with a slight smile. At least, it hadn't been a total bust. Maybe he'd actually get some support.

"But, Chase, didn't you use protection or something? It's not like you to love them and leave them pregnant." Cameron pointed out, brows furrowed at the idea of her college being lazy and unreliable.

Spoke too soon, he realized as he clutched the Corona in his right hand and tilted the neck back to take a long sip. Licking his lips dry, the blonde shook his head.

"First off, Cameron," Chase frowned slightly at her accusations, hazel eyes locking and burning into her brown ones. "It wasn't like that. During the time that Reese and I were together, I was faithful to her by choice. And more importantly, I'm not a total idiot. I wore condoms." Tipping back the beer bottle, he guzzled down the rest of the alcohol and replaced the bottle back onto the table. "Near the end, I was planning to leave her because I had started to think that I wasn't making her happy, that I couldn't love her the way she wanted or needed to be loved."

When Cameron opened her mouth to cut in, with Foreman watching all this from the sidelines, Chase held a hand up to cut her off before she started.

"No, don't start. Let me finish." Chase slid off the bar stool and continued to frown at his college. "She never told me she was pregnant. She found out two weeks after I left and punished me for walking away. I was the responsible one, Cameron. I would've gone back to be with her and the baby, but I didn't get the chance because she never once opened her mouth to tell me the news."

Allison frowned in return and cut in before her friend could stop her. "I don't know why you're getting so mad at me. I asked a question; I didn't think you'd take it personally."

Yanking his leather jacket off the table with shaky hands, the blonde pulled it on angrily. "Take it personally? You pretty much just accused me of being irresponsible! Shows just how much faith you have in me." Grabbing his car keys from the pocket, the doctor pushed his way past his two friends, stumbling into a nearby table.

Foreman and Cameron jumped up from their stools to help the man walk, but were shaken off by Chase grumbling, "I'm fine. I'll see you two later," as he left the bar.

Cameron and Foreman were left to exchange worried glances before grabbing their keys and coats and heading outside.

* * *

"Chase! Wait up!" Allison called as she and Foreman hurried across the parking lot to find the said man struggling to find the right key in the dim lighting.

Giving up with a deep groan, Robert lifted his head and squinted at the two. "What now?"

Foreman reached forewords and snatched the key ring from the man's hand. "No driving for you. We don't want to have to take care of you when you land yourself in the hospital."

Chase nodded and leant weakly against the car, his mind slightly fuzzy from the headache and alcohol he had consumed. In the morning, he would love to see how many beers he had on his empty stomach; too bad that a passing waitress had taken away all the empty bottles during the course of their night.

Cameron nodded and looped an arm through Chase's. "Come on, I'll give you a ride home."

As she led the Aussie away to her car, she called out her "Night" to Foreman, Chase stumbling slightly and quietly.

* * *

"Thanks Allison," Reese smiled, taking Robert Chase's hand in one hand and then his elbow in the other and helping the buzzed man through the door.

"Yeah, no problem, Reese." The other woman nodded, clutching her car keys in her right hand before deciding not to mention anything about the whole Anya issue. Instead, she offered the mother a smile and then added, "It was great to finally meet you, even though the circumstances aren't the best right now. Y'know, with Chase being buzzed and it being nearly midnight."

A shake of her head as she turned to watch the man stumble through the archway on her right into her living room and over to the couch where he collapsed onto it and then turned her attention back to the female. "Same to you too." After a moment, Reese added, "Night."

"Night," came Cameron's echo as she turned and made her way down the wooden patio steps.

"Allison?"

Cameron turned around at the sound of her name. "Yeah? What's up?"

Reese took a tentative step out of the house, wrapping her arms around her blue-bathrobe-clad body. "Can I ask you something?"

The request took the woman by surprise slightly. What could Reese Reynolds possibly want to ask _her?_

"Why'd you bring him here instead of taking him home?"

A shrug of her shoulders. "I'm not sure. I was taking him home, but than he started going on about how he had to see you tonight and then gave me directions here."

"Oh," A nod. "Thanks again. Night."

A wave. A "Night" in response and the sound of her heeled shoes clicking on the stone walkway echoed in Allison Cameron's head as she led herself to her blue Dodge Neon that would take her home for the night.

Ten minutes later, Reese Reynolds found herself standing in front of her couch, hands on her hips with a slight frown on her face.

Robert Chase was passed out on her couch, still dressed in his leather jacket, orange and red striped t-shirt, jeans and his shoes. It was slightly chilly outside, but they didn't have AC on, and it would probably grow warm overnight. Besides, with it being the beginning of summer, he'd probably get hot at some point.

"Robby," she whined slightly, shaking his shoulder and using the nickname she had used when they had been dating. He had hated being called anything like Robby, Bobby, Rob or anything like that. But she had always used it because it sounded cute. "Time to wake up."

A groan escaped his pink lips and the man shifted from his sitting up position to laying on his stomach, face buried into the cushion.

"Robby! Robby-Poo!"

Another groan. "It's time to sleep,"

A smirk crossed Reese's lips. "Robby-Poo. It's time to wake up. I need to get you undressed for bed."

With yet another groan from the man, he woke himself up enough to sit up and squint his eyes at the brunette, his head pounding. "I'm spending the night here?"

With a nod, Reese set about helping him take off his leather jacket and than moving to toss it onto a nearby chair. "Yeah, because your car is at The Blue Note, waiting to be picked up in the morning. And Corbin still hasn't come home, so there's not going to be a big blowout between you two."

"Oh yeah." A frown adorned his lips. "That prat still hasn't come home?"

A shake of the head, brown hair swinging loose from the loose ponytail Reese had pulled it into earlier as she knelt to begin untying the laces of Chase's runners. "Nope. I haven't talked to him lately, and he hasn't called."

"That bastard doesn't deserve you."

Reese froze in pulling off his running shoe and then shook her head, reminding herself that the man in her living room was buzzed and unaware of what he was saying. "I suppose not, sometimes, but he's my husband, and I love him."

When Reese stood up to put his running shoes away a few moments later, Chase reached out and took her hand, tugging her to him. "But you love me too. Or do you hate me because we haven't discussed our problem yet?"

"Our daughter is a problem now?"

A disgusted sigh from Chase as he pushed himself to stand. Taking his shoes from Reese, he tossed them away and took her hands in his. "Anya isn't a problem and will never be a problem—"

"—as long as we decide if I'm going to let you into her life." Reese finished, interrupting the man and tugged her hands from his. Lifting her chin, she looked Chase in the face and finished.

"Chase, trust me when I say I'd be thrilled to have you in Anya's life. She deserves to know the man who is her real father and she's always excited to see you whenever you come around."

"So what's the problem?"

A brown brow raised. "The problem is you're always so busy at the hospital and when you're not, it's usually too late for you to come around and play with her. But none of that matters right now because you, my friend, are buzzed and probably will remember very little of this in the morning."

Smiling slightly, she gave him a playful push back onto the couch. "Now, good night."

"You're just going to leave me here?"

"What do you want? To join me on the bed?"

Chase offered her a slightly drunken smile. "That'd be fun,"

"But not the best idea when things are how they are." Reese finished before smiling and echoing "Good night" again, before leaving the blonde Doctor to fall asleep on the comfortable couch in the Reynolds' living room.

* * *

**A/N: **Long chapter guys! Lots of fun, fluffy, emotional things happening. Please review! 


	9. I Gotta Get Through This

**A/N: **I'm back from the dead guys! Cheer for me! Yay! Ohhh, and someone finds something about someone else and that isn't a good thing.

Oh yeah, and I apologize for the song choice; I was having a difficult song to appropriately describe this chapter.

**Shadow Of Love:**

**Chapter Nine: I Gotta Get Through This**

* * *

The first thing that Doctor Gregory House noticed when he limped into the Diagnostics office on the sunny Monday Morning were two small children, sitting at the glass table on the office chairs, hunched over a piece of paper with a wax crayon in each hand.

A box of crayons had tipped over onto its side with a few of the crayons spilling out of the box and onto the table with a few sheets of blank paper beside the half-empty box.

Quirking a brow at the two children, House pounded his cane into the floor once and cleared his throat, which resulted in the girl looking up at him, who then smiled at him.

"Hi mister!" she greeted, her blue eyes gleaming in happiness. "I'm drawing a picture! Wanna see?"

"No, I don't." House replied, eyeing the two children. "Who are you and what are you doing in my office?"

The girl used her palms to push back her blonde hair over her shoulder. "Chase told me and Dakota to stay here and wait for him."

"Chase?"

"Yeah! Chase! That's my mommy's friend." The girl nodded vigorously at the older doctor. "Mommy had to go see Grandma and Grandpa because she and daddy had a big fight." A pout crossed her pink lips at this. "Mommy said that even though she and daddy fight, they still love me and Dakota."

Deciding that the sooner he changed topic, the sooner the girl would go away, House cut in before she could say anything else about her parents' fighting. "So where did Chase go?"

The little girl hummed as if to remember and then said, with a big grin, "He went to buy us a snack! His friend, Jane—she said she's a nurse—was here with us till a couple seconds ago and then she said she had to go across the hall for a minute."

Apparently, changing the topic didn't work.

"So that explains why you two were alone."

The girl blinked at the doctor and then, to his annoyance, she laughed at him. "You're funny mister. We aren't alone! Me and Dakota have each other!"

A slow nod came from House and then shrugged as he hobbled over to the connecting glass door that would lead him to his own office. "Shoo kids. Go find Doctor Chase. I'm very busy."

The little girl climbed down from her seat after replacing her purple crayon onto the table and skipped over to the doctor. "Doing what?"

"Doctor stuff."

"Like what?"

House frowned at the annoyingness of the child. The child hadn't shut up in the five or ten minutes he'd been there. Opening the glass door, he waved his hand at the girl, shooing her away.

"Stuff," he insisted. "Go back and colour or something till Chase comes back. Than you can annoy him."

The blonde girl nodded and held out her hand. "My name's Anya mister!"

The older doctor studied her small hand and then ignored it, shooing her away once more. In response, Anya pouted and lowered her hand before she opened her mouth. "Chase and Miss Cameron went to get me and my brother juice!"

"Yeah, that's right." Another voice cut in, and Anya turned to find her 'mommy's friend', Chase, standing behind her with two containers of apple juice in one hand and two Jou Louis's wrapped in plastic in the other. "Come and eat your snack Anya."

House quirked his brows at his fellow worker as the little girl turned her back on him and skipped back to the table to join her brother, who was now scribbling on a new sheet of paper and the table underneath. Chase responded by shaking his head, as if to say that he didn't want to answer any questions yet.

Anya climbed back up onto her chair, across from Dakota, with some help from Chase and waited patiently as he peeled the tin foil lid off the container of apple juice and stuck a straw in it for her and then rounded the table and jammed the straw into the lid for Dakota, who squealed happily and clapped his hands at the present.

After being served their chocolate snack cakes, the two kids began to devour them as House limped back over to the glass table and watched the Intensivist sit beside Dakota and sneaking bits of his snack cake, and smiling at the girl sitting across from him, as she somehow managed to smear chocolate from one cheek to the other.

"So wombat, who are your mini wombats?" House cut in, as he leaned heavily on his cane, and Chase looked up to his boss, shaking his head and excusing himself from the two kids.

"Two kids I agreed to watch for a little while." Chase answered, running one hand through his blonde locks. "Anya and Dakota are my friend's kids, and she was busy with some personal matters so she couldn't take the kids with her."

"So where's the father?"

Chase stiffened slightly and then answered with a final tone, "With his wife."

House deemed it best to leave the topic alone for now, especially as cries with "Miss Cameron!" rose from the little girl.

Allison Cameron smiled as she entered the Diagnostics office, wearing a pair of black dress pants, a baby-blue tee and her white lab coat. "Hey kids," she greeted, directing a smile at the two chocolate-covered children and then at her boss and co-workers. "Hey guys."

"Doctor Cameron!" House interjected loudly. "Mind telling me why Chase agreed to take the rugrats on board?"

Cameron exchanged a look with Chase, knowing exactly why he had taken them to work for a bit, and then at House and answered with a shrug. "All I know is their mother was busy and asked Chase to watch them, and the kids wanted to see what Chase does for a living."

Crossing over to sit beside Anya at the table, Cameron took a seat beside her and winced slightly at the state of the two children and their workspace. Drops of apple juice littered the surrounding area with crumbs from the snack cakes joining in. If that weren't bad enough, the kids were covered from cheek to cheek with their hands covered in chocolate.

"Yummy snack!" Anya cheered to Cameron and Chase, who couldn't help but smile at his daughter—who had yet to learn of the truth. House caught the smile lingering on Chase's face as the older of the two climbed down from her seat to wander over to him and take his hand.

"Can me and Dakota go get cleaned up now?"

Chase nodded. "I actually think that's a good idea. Your mom will be coming to get you soon and she probably won't want you so dirty."

Leading her over to the sink in the far corner, Chase lifted Anya to sit her on the counter as he stood in front of her and wetting the dish towel they kept there before scrubbing her face and hands clean before setting her down to the floor and picking Dakota up—who squealed in delight.

But things didn't go as well as they did with Anya. Dakota began squirming and shouting "No" as the blonde tried to clean his face, but eventually gave in, especially when Anya waddled over and handed Chase the blue truck toy that had been stashed into her pink Disney Princess backpack. Chase quickly passed on the toy.

During the whole fiasco, House had limped over to the table and sat down, taking a load off and watched Chase amusedly. Cameron had joined House to look over some patient files to see if they might have an interesting enough case that would appeal to him.

"Mama!" Dakota had squealed loudly, cutting into a debate that Chase, Cameron and House were having about the lack of cases they had been having. Sure, they had had one or two, but none of the latest ones had appealed to House enough to be deemed worthy of their attention.

The three doctors looked up as the thirty year old woman entered the Diagnostics office, adding a knock to the door.

"Hey, sorry for interrupting," she smiled nervously. "Just coming to pick up the kids."

Crossing the room, the woman smiled at Chase. "Were they any trouble?"

Chase shook his head at the woman. "No, they were great Reese."

"Thanks so much for taking care of them." Reese replied, smoothing down the black knee-length business skirt and then pulling off her matching jacket to reveal a peachy coloured blouse underneath.

Anya and Dakota darted up from the floor the minute Reese had entered the room and threw themselves at their mother, hugging her (or in Dakota's case, hugging her leg). Reese laughed and looked down at the two.

"Did you two have fun?"

"Yeah!! Chase and Miss Cameron went and got us Jou Louis' and apple juice!" Anya declared excitedly. "And mister House," she jammed a finger at the older doctor, having picked up his name earlier, "came in and told us he was busy with doctor stuff, so he couldn't play with us. But I drew a picture. Wanna see?"

Ruffling her blonde hair, Reese nodded. "In a little bit sweetheart. I think we've bugged Chase and his friends enough today."

After making an introduction to House, who seemed as if he couldn't care less, Reese gathered up her daughter's pink backpack and slung it over one shoulder and took her kids' hands.

"I'll walk you out." Chase offered before leading the mother and children out of the office.

As they walked down the busy hallway, he allowed himself a look over at Reese.

In the two months since Corbin had walked out on her and the kids, she had had custody of Anya and Dakota. She had chopped her brown hair short, to have it resting on her shoulders, strands tucked behind her ears which had a pair of diamond studs hooked onto them. Her blue eyes were slightly baggy due to the lack of sleep and stress she had been under; she had been served divorce papers a few days previous by Corbin along with joint custody papers concerning Dakota. On top of all that, she was trying to work out a custody agreement with Chase concerning Anya.

At least that agreement was working so far: Chase got to come over and play with Anya and Dakota as their 'friend' for the time being and take them out. This ensured that Chase got to spend time with his daughter and her brother without having to go the legal route for now. This agreement had only allowed a delay for them though; both Reese and Chase had agreed that if Anya spent time with Chase, it might work in their favour and hers: Anya might be more up to the idea of Chase being her biological father.

Soon enough, papers would have to come into play though, and possibly court. But right now, this was working for all of them. Chase had determined he would have to be satisfied with this arrangement for now because of the whole Corbin situation.

"So how'd it go with your parents?" Chase asked as he punched the button on the elevator panel.

Reese shook her head, showing she didn't want to talk about it in front of Anya and Dakota.

Shifting a little awkwardly as he wasn't sure what to say, the quartet wandered into the metal box and Chase opted for listening to his daughter ramble on about what fun she and her brother had had in the Diagnostics office.

Finally, reaching the ground floor, he walked the mother and children out to her car and buckled the kids up in their car seats before they closed the car door so he could talk to Reese for a minute.

"Look," Reese began and then ran her fingers through her short brown hair. "I know you really want to work out our agreement with Anya and I really want her to know the truth. But this whole thing with Corbin…"

"…is going to have to come first." Chase finished off with a frown. Divorces could take months.

Reese shook her head and then sunk her hands comfortably into her companions larger ones. "Rob,"

Chase blinked at the name. She hadn't called him, "Rob," or even "Robert," for the longest time.

A smile crossed her lips. "Rob…Chase…I think we should take Anya out for dinner sometime this week…sit her down and tell her. Just the three of us."

"Think so?"

"Yeah." A nod of her head. "She's been so open to you and maybe that's a sign to us that shows that she's ready to know."

As Reese climbed into her Dodge Neon, she paused and looked over at Chase, giving him a reassuring smile. "It'll be okay Chase."

* * *

Over the next few days, Chase and Cameron were caught talking closely to each other, and House was sure it wasn't about potential cases.

So when he found evidence of his claims late Thursday night after everyone had gone home, a sense of glee swarmed over the sarcastic doctor.

Digging through a pile of papers on the glass table which still had light markings from the fun with crayons the previous Monday, House frowned. He had seen something interesting in a patient's file and had wanted to look at it again to see if it sparked his interest a second time.

Frowning, he ditched the pile of papers on the glass table and went over to the next pile near the bookcase, on the counter where their coffee station and sink usually were.

Nothing interesting, nothing interesting…

Continuing to shuffle the papers of what looked like medical notes, House suddenly stopped and pulled out a lone sheet of paper.

It was obviously a drawing done by a child. Otherwise, Cameron, Chase and Foreman all had the artistic skills of a three year old.

There was a brown square with a brown triangle on top. In the middle of the square was a rectangle and in the middle of that was a circle. Realizing that was a house, the doctor moved onto what else was in the picture. Standing on a green line, which was meant—he supposed—to be grass, were four very lousy stick figures, all with no faces, but with hair.

The tallest stick figure had blonde scribbles drawn around the circular head. One long line going vertically down the page with one line crossing horizontally through the vertical line resembled arms. There were no feet to the stick figure.

Standing beside the first one was a small figure with blonde scribbles—obviously hair. This figure had no face either, but was wearing what he assumed was a skirt as there was a triangle that ended at the bottom of the vertical line. Once more there was a horizontal line crossing through the vertical line and no feet.

The third figure was just a little shorter than the first figure and drawn the exact same way as the other two: no face, no feet and a horizontal line crossing a vertical line to resemble arms. The 'hair' of this figure had long brown hair.

Finally, the fourth figure was the smallest; much more smaller than the second figure to the point where all the stick figure was was a circle on the green line with brown scribbled hair and almost no body with tiny 'arms'.

Across the top of the page, in huge letters was "FAMLEE". Family had been spelt wrong, but if this was a child's drawing, than it was expected.

Blue eyes studied the picture as House held it in his hands before flipping it over to the back. In Chase's handwriting, which House recognized in a second, it said "Anya. Age 4. July 30, 2007."

Scrunching up his nose in thought, the man hooked the handle of his cane onto the back of a nearby chair and continued to dig through the pile of papers, pulling out what looked like a note of some sort, written in girly handwriting. He didn't recognize it as Cameron's writing, but brushed it off, and read the note anyways.

Pushing that to the side after, his curiosity getting the better of him, House finished shuffling through the pile of documents, and near the bottom of the pile was a smaller but thicker folder of some sort.

Snatching it from the pile, House flipped open the cover and pulled out a small pile of photographs. There were only three, but the man—who at this point couldn't resist finding out what Chase was hiding, as that was the kind of man House was—looked through them.

In the first photograph was a picture of the Aussie doctor sitting on the wooden bench of a wooden picnic table, condiment bottles of Ketchup, Mustard and Relish littering the table along with paper plates. Beside him was the young woman who had come to pick up the kids the few days previously.

In the woman's hand, she held a hotdog in a bun and was pushing it into Chase's mouth. The woman's blue eyes were gleaming and a laugh on her young face, short brown hair tucked behind her ears, and dressed in a strapless white top. Chase had been dressed in a light green tee, his mouth securely trapping the food in it's place, his hands holding onto the young woman's wrists.

Flipping the photograph, House deemed it the same day as Chase was still wearing the same green tee. But in this photograph, he was playing soccer with the two kids who House recognized. His right foot had raised backwards as if to kick the ball. The little boy, who appeared to be half-jumping, was wearing black Spiderman running shoes with black shorts and a blue and red tee shirt, a black baseball cap tucked onto his kid. The little girl was dressed in a light pink summer dress, her blonde hair pulled into a ponytail and clearly standing, hands gripping the skirt of her dress. All three of them had smiles on their faces—from what House could see, even though it was difficult as the two children had been standing facing the side.

Finally reaching the third photograph, House studied this one specifically. It was just Chase and the little girl. Anya, he reminded himself. That was her name. She was hoisted up onto Chase's left hip, her bare arms wrapped around his neck, her cheek pressing to his. Their blonde hair mixed together, so it looked as if they were joined at the head, but was nearly the same shade. His hazel eyes and her blue ones were staring directly up at him, telling House that they had posed for the picture to some degree. His mouth had opened in a smile while the girl had smiled with her mouth closed. Chase's left arm supported the girl's back, him leaning to the side slightly as if to keep her on his hip, while his right hand had wrapped itself around her body to take hold of his left forearm.

Snapping his head up, as if House had heard something, he quickly stuffed the photos back into the pocket and picked up the note and picture, and shoved them beneath the pile where he had found them.

Whistling as if he hadn't been snooping in his colleague's personal belongings, House limped off to go find his old friend, James Wilson.

* * *

**A/N: **So now, House knows something is up with Chase. Knowing House, this can't be good. 


	10. It's Not Over

**A/N: **Oh my god guys!! Where did you all go?? I miss you guys!! But than again, I disappeared for a while, so I don't blame you. But the good news is I'm back and we have some really cute Chase/Anya father-daughter fluff going on in this chapter. So enjoy!

**Shadow of Love:**

**Chapter Ten: It's Not Over**

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* * *

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_Let's start over,  
I'll try to do it right this time around,  
It's not over,  
Because a part of me is dead and in the ground._

"It's Not Over" by Chris Daughtry

* * *

"Okay children," House's blue eyes skimmed over the three doctors who were sitting at the glass table in the Diagnostics conference room. "Time to run some tests on our patient."

It was nearly six o'clock, and the team was sitting in the Diagnostics conference room, trying to diagnose a patient who had complained about nightmares haunting him at night with some other minor symptoms. Apparently, Gregory House saw something interesting in the case and took it (or just took it to give them something to do).

Either way, tonight wasn't the night for Robert Chase to be staying late at work to run a test or two on a patient.

"Uh, I can't." Chase commented, standing up to gather up his belongings. "I've got some things to do."

"Really." House's eyebrows shot up. "What could be more interesting than watching somebody sleep?"

Chase sighed and shook his head. "Nothing important."

A slight smirk crossed House's lips. "If it weren't important, you wouldn't be dashing out of here and more importantly, you wouldn't be skipping testing. We all know that you're interested in McSleepy."

"No." Chase pointed at his boss. "That's you. You took the case because you saw something interesting."

"Foreman and I'll do it," Cameron offered to Chase, before switching her hazel glance to House to see if he okayed it. A smug grin was crossing his bearded face. To Cameron, that always meant something bad. Or good—if the circumstances resulted in something that would favour House.

With a wave, and a grin, Chase headed towards the door. With any luck, he'd have enough time to grab a quick shower and then maybe shave before heading off to meet Reese and Anya for dinner.

"You wouldn't be rushing off to see a newly-separated woman with two kids—one of them who belong to you—would you?" House suddenly called out and Chase froze, the glass door opened, his hand clutching the handle.

His green eyes widened slightly and he twisted at the waist to look at his boss than his co-workers, who seemed equally surprised that House knew.

"How do you—" Chase began, a look of confusion crossing his face.

"Know?" House finished. "You should really learn how to hide personal belongings and not leave them in such an open place for the world to see."

A look of realization dawned on Chase's face. He left the papers on the counter underneath some medical forms and papers. No wonder House found them; if he had been looking for a form or a file, he would've come across them.

"Look—"

"You have a kid." House sniffed and pretended to wipe a tear from his eye. "My duckling has a duckling of his own." Turning to Cameron, he nodded. "They grow up so fast."

Cameron just rolled her eyes and turned to Chase. "We didn't tell him anything."

Chase shook his head in disbelief, and looked to Foreman, who shrugged—his own way of saying he had no idea how House came across his secret.

"I don't believe this." Chase groaned. "You went digging through my stuff."

"Not intentionally, I assure you."

"But you still did." Chase pointed out, and then lifted his left wrist to push the sleeve up. "Look, I'd really love to continue this conversation and all, but you have tests to run and I've got to meet Reese for dinner."

House held a hand up and quirked his brows. "Wait. Reese? As in Reese Reynolds?"

"Yeah, so?"

A shrug from House. "No reason. Just curious."

Shaking his head in disbelief once more, unable to believe some of the things that came out of House's mouth, Chase yanked the door open and walked through, leaving the Diagnostics conference room in silence for a few minutes before House spoke, as if nothing happened.

"Cameron, Foreman, what are you waiting for? Go watch McSleepy sleep."

* * *

It was only an hour later before Chase pulled his silver Echo into the parking lot of McDonald's—the restaurant Anya had chosen when he had called her earlier to ask her where she wanted to go for dinner.

Entering the restaurant, he looked around the busy restaurant. There was a short line up of customers, but half of the tables were full with families and young couples.

Moving out of the way, Chase allowed his green eyes to scan over the tables before spotting Reese sitting on one side of a table with Anya sitting on the others. Both had smiles on their faces as they played Tic Tac Toe on a napkin with a pen that Reese had obviously pulled from her purse.

"Well, if it isn't my favourite people?" Chase greeted with a smile, and grunted with surprise as Anya stood up on her seat and jumped into his arms. "Hey there kiddo. Miss me?"

"Lots and lots!" Anya smiled, her blue eyes gleaming as she wrapped one arm around Chase's shoulder, straddling his hips. "Mommy and me were playing games!"

"Oh yeah?" Chase grinned at Reese, who smiled back and held up the napkin.

"Yeah," Reese nodded. "Anya beat me four times."

"Mommy told me where to put the circles."

Setting Anya back down onto the bench, Chase took a seat beside her, across from Reese. "Have you guys eaten yet?"

Tucking a lock of brown hair behind her ears, Reese shook her head. "No, we just got here about ten minutes ago. We decided to grab a table first, and then order. Sooo," She moved to pull her wallet out of her purse. "I'm going to go stand in line. What do you want for dinner?"

Chase shook his head and then took Anya's hand, helping her down from the bench. "We'll get dinner," He looked down at the little girl. "What do you say? You up to help me get dinner while Mommy sits and relaxes?"

Anya nodded her blonde head quickly. "Yup!"

* * *

"I'm sorry, but I'm bored." Forman complained, sinking down in his office chair, and resting his head in his hand.

"Yeah, well…" Cameron shrugged, stretching out. "What are we going to do?"

Watching somebody sleep was never appealing and never interesting, Cameron realized. She had been sitting here for nearly an hour, and was already bored out of her mind, but she wouldn't voice it. Not when she was running tests.

"Leave." Foreman countered, as if the answer were obvious. "If House wants these results so badly, he can come do it."

A roll of her eyes. Cameron had to admit that Foreman had a point; House would know how to amuse himself if he were here instead of them.

But before she had time to think of some way to get him down here to cover for them, she heard Foreman call her name.

"Huh?"

"I said," Foreman said. "House knows Chase has a kid. How did he figure that one out?"

Cameron shrugged and sat back up straight before reaching for a clipboard to make some notes about the test so far. "Yeah, so?"

"So? House knows Chase has a kid."

Cameron gave a disgusted grunt and turned to Foreman. "What? Are you jealous or something? It's none of our business if Chase has a daughter or not. It doesn't change him at all. He's still the same guy."

"Not to House." Foreman pointed out before looking pointedly at Cameron, who had turned her attention back to the clipboard. "So Chase did go see Reese and his kid?"

A non-committal shrug came from Cameron. "Guess so. He said something about telling Anya the truth tonight."

* * *

Reese shifted nervously in her seat as she dug into the Caramilk McFlurry she had bought for dessert. Soon enough, the three of them would be going back to her place to tell Anya what they—her and Chase—had kept secret for the better part of two months.

Anya was four years old; barely old enough to understand _why _they had kept it a secret from her. How was she supposed to understand the difference between what Chase was—her biological father, her _real _father—and Corbin, the man who had been _acting _as a father to her for her whole life?

As Anya dashed off to play in the Play Place, Reese avoided Chase's gaze and focused on eating the quickly melting ice cream.

"Reese…relax."

Finally looking up, Reese rested the ice cream cup on the table and licked her lips clean. "Rob…Chase…she's four. She's not going to understand."

Reaching across the table, Chase took Reese's slightly cool hand in his and rubbed his thumb along the back of it comfortingly. "We'll make her understand. Anya deserves to know; we've already been keeping it from her for over two months."

"Keeping what from me?"

Snatching his hand away from Reese, Chase jumped and looked to his side where the short blonde-headed girl stood, her face pink and slightly wet from sweat from all the running around she must've been doing on the play ground.

"Anya, you startled me." Chase smiled and rested a hand on the top of her head, before running it down her back, smoothing the hair downwards.

"Sorry Chase," Anya smiled her apology.

'_Dad' _was what Chase wanted to hear come out of Anya's mouth and soon enough—hopefully after tonight—that would be what he would be hearing any time he saw his little girl.

"No problem, kiddo." Exchanging a look with Reese, who smiled at her daughter, Chase swung his attention back to the little girl. "It's about time we get going. It's almost your bed time."

"Are you coming to our house?"

Chase nodded. "Yeah. Just for a little bit though."

Helping Reese throw out their garbage, Chase took Anya's hand with one of his, while Anya clutched Reese's hand with her other one and they headed out to the parking lot. Chase broke away to get to his car, promising Anya he'd follow them to their house. It was only then that Anya allowed her mother to buckle her into her car seat.

The two adults drove to Reese's house, relieved the babysitter of Dakota (Chase paid her and thanked her for the evening) and got Anya ready for bed—if only to delay the inevitable for just a little bit longer.

When Anya had suddenly asked out of the blue when "Daddy was coming home", Reese had decided that enough was enough and sat down with Anya on the couch, Chase sitting in the arm chair beside the couch.

They did the best they could, at explaining the truth: that Anya was really Chase's daughter and not Corbin's, like she had believed.

Throughout the explanation, Anya was silent, listening to the adults talk, and finally blurted out the question: "So I have two daddies?"

Robert Chase exchanged a look with Reese and cleared his throat, leaning forwards and locking his fingers together, almost as if he were explaining a type of dangerous treatment to a patient.

"Um…yeah, sort of." Chase nodded and then looked up to the cloudy-eyed woman sitting beside his daughter. "You see, you have me…your real dad. You," he pointed at Anya, "came from me and your mom. Corbin is your other dad and he was pretending to be your dad for me."

Slowly nodding, taking all the information in, Anya looked from Chase to Reese. "So Corbin Daddy doesn't love me?"

"Baby girl," Reese sniffed and licked her lips. "Corbin loves you very much. And Chase here, loves you very much as well."

"Than why hasn't Chase Daddy been here?"

Chase closed his eyes, knowing the question was going to come up. Opening his eyes, he looked at the little girl. He couldn't tell Anya that he hadn't known about her, and he definitely couldn't tell her that he hadn't loved her mother at the time she was conceived. So, he decided to tell her a half-truth.

"I was really scared." Chase started before clearing his throat again. "I was scared that I couldn't be the kind of person that your mom wanted."

Opening his mouth, Chase immediately closed it as Anya climbed off the couch and rested her small hand on his cheek.

"Chase Daddy…why are you crying?"

Chase blinked and become immediately aware that his cheeks were wet. Gently moving Anya's hand away from his face, Chase used the back of his hand to wipe his cheeks.

"Are you sad?" Anya asked innocently as Reese moved closer to the two.

Chase picked Anya up and rested her sideways on his lap, shaking his head. "Not anymore. I found you…and I found your mom. And I'm so happy that I get to know you."

The innocent questions continued and Chase found himself wanting to answer every one of them. "Than why are you crying?"

Locking his eyes with Reese for just a moment, who nodded encouragingly.

"Because Anya…I missed four years of your life because I was scared. And I'm so sorry that I wasn't there to watch you grow up."

Reese closed her own watering blue eyes, feeling her heart break. Chase was full-out apologizing to his daughter for messing up, and she was taking it with ease, as if he was only apologizing for yelling at her.

The girl blinked and looked between Chase and Reese before a look of sadness crossed her young face. "Does this mean that we won't be together anymore?"

"No!" Chase stated quickly and set Anya on her feet. Resting his hands on her shoulders, Chase stared into Anya's eyes, a look of seriousness crossing his face.

"Listen to me." Chase started. "You, and me, and Dakota and Reese and Corbin…we're all related in some way or another. No matter if you're with your mom, brother and Corbin, or if you're with me, your brother and your mom, we're still a family. We will always be a family, no matter what happens. A family is a group of people who love each other very much, and everybody loves you more than anything. Nothing is going to change, I promise."

Anya nodded silently.

Chase pressed his index and middle finger into the middle of her chest lightly. "You know what that is? Right in there?"

Anya seemed to think for a second before smiling brightly. "My heart!"

"Exactly." A nod of approval and Chase cleared his throat, suddenly finding it very hard to talk without dissolving into tears like he had a few minutes previous. "No matter what…I will always be in there." Taking her smaller hand, he pressed it against his chest. "And you…will always be in here."

Anya nodded and moved to hug Chase, winding her smaller arms around his neck, standing between his legs, and she buried her face into his shoulder.

"It's not over yet." Catching Reese's eyes, Chase offered her a small smile before hugging the girl back, one hand rubbing his daughter's back gently. "I promise I'm going to do this right…I'm going to be here from now on…no running off scared again."

"Good." He heard Anya mumble against his shoulder, and found himself hugging the girl tightly, burying his face into her tiny shoulders as she quietly added the one sentence he had wanted to hear so badly all night long:

"I love you Chase Daddy."

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**A/N: **Aww, that was so sweet!! Please review and let me know what you think. 


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